In the CEO Afterlife

DECEMBER 11, 2011

Leadership. by John • December 11, 2011 • Branding , Leadership , Marketing , Strategy • 1 Comment. In the case of struggling Nabob Foods, two significant innovations facilitated the turnaround. While they played catch-up, we were already working on the next innovation. Human Resources.

CEO 201

CEO Advertising Franchising Brand 201

In the CEO Afterlife

APRIL 4, 2011

Leadership. by John • April 4, 2011 • Leadership , Strategy • 0 Comments. The giants dominated markets and gobbled up competitors; they also failed to cope with rapid change. Their competitive edge eroded because the people at the top, who considered themselves the corporate brain, failed to innovate.

CEO 150

CEO Mass Marketing Class Brand 150

In the CEO Afterlife

NOVEMBER 13, 2011

Leadership. by John • November 13, 2011 • Branding , Life , Marketing • 5 Comments. I’ve never thought of the homeless as innovative or entrepreneurial. My pattern is posting every Monday, on leadership, strategy, marketing and life. Human Resources. Leadership.

Brand 245

Brand Merchandising Entrepreneur Audience 245

In the CEO Afterlife

FEBRUARY 4, 2015

I’ll start with leadership. The same argument can be made for strategies. Qualitative cultures are about the creativity, the ingenuity, and the innovation created by the human resource, not the financial resource. This is a culture of entrepreneurial and innovative thinking. Be fact-selective.

Competitive Advantage 100

Competitive Advantage How To Human Resources Strategy 100

In the CEO Afterlife

MARCH 1, 2016

Thirty-five years ago at a ceremony in Vancouver, BC, I accepted AMA’s Marketer-of-the-Year Award on behalf of Nabob Foods. This company earned that honor by re-staging a tired coffee brand with innovative packing technology and breakthrough advertising. As marketers well know, unfilled needs create opportunities to meet the need.

Brand 100

Brand Competitive Advantage Marketing Strategy CEO 100

In the CEO Afterlife

AUGUST 1, 2011

Leadership. by John • August 1, 2011 • Branding , Marketing • 0 Comments. To its credit, GSK still owns Macleans and although it is no longer the #3 brand, chomping at the tails of Colgate and Crest, Macleans has benefitted from contemporary marketing and dental care innovation in a few geographies.

Brand 170

Brand CEO Stage-Gate Marketing 170

In the CEO Afterlife

MAY 1, 2012

Magic can’t happen in cultures that don’t worship innovation. Innovation starts with leadership. Most big company cultures are not innovative. Oh yes, they talk about innovation in their annual reports and their mission statements. But this isn’t the Apple, Google or Amazon type of innovation.

Mission Statement 222

Mission Statement Innovation Committee CEO 222

In the CEO Afterlife

MAY 6, 2012

So much has been written about business innovation this past year. Those walking the talk are on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies. Are we to deduce that innovation is the domain of new economy and early-stage life cycle businesses? These innovators love playing rocket man.

Chief Operating Officer 202

Chief Operating Officer Chief Technology Officer CEO Innovation 202

In the CEO Afterlife

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Leadership. Brand Surgery – excerpts from my Marketing Magazine article. by John • February 5, 2011 • Branding , Leadership , Marketing , Strategy • 1 Comment. The role has been relegated to middle managers who are brand custodians, not leaders in innovation. Human Resources.

Magazine 100

Magazine Brand Article Marketing 100

Marshall Goldsmith

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

Jim Kim (President of the World Bank), Peter Drucker (founder of modern management), Paul Hersey (noted author, teacher, and personal mentor of mine), and Warren Bennis (one of the world’s greatest leadership thinkers of his time). Has been recognized as the World’s #1 Leadership Thinker. Author of two best-selling leadership books.

Executive Coaching 70

Executive Coaching CEO Magazine Banking 70

Women on Business

JANUARY 11, 2011

In this TED video , Sinek explains what he believes to be the reason for Apple’s constant innovations and their repeated successes. Red Zone Marketing’s “Why”: We focus our efforts on finding simple, common sense and inexpensive alternatives to creating growth in a business. Sinek makes a case that it’s all about the messaging.

Press Release 167

Press Release Discount PR Marketing Strategy 167

In the CEO Afterlife

AUGUST 1, 2011

Leadership. by John • August 1, 2011 • Branding , Marketing • 0 Comments. To its credit, GSK still owns Macleans and although it is no longer the #3 brand, chomping at the tails of Colgate and Crest, Macleans has benefitted from contemporary marketing and dental care innovation in a few geographies.

Brand 131

Brand CEO Stage-Gate Marketing 131

In the CEO Afterlife

JULY 24, 2011

Leadership. by John • July 24, 2011 • Branding , Marketing • 3 Comments. Here’s a clue to the French liquor-maker’s culture, from their annual report: “We will continue to raise our game so that creativity and innovation are the heart of our model. Human Resources. Leadership. Main menu Home.

CEO 100

CEO Advertising Brand Creativity 100

In the CEO Afterlife

MAY 23, 2011

Leadership. by John • May 23, 2011 • Branding , Marketing • 3 Comments. In my day, I started with strategy. Jack Welch’s replacement wanted ‘Innovation at Work’ — not bad for culture and corporate morale, but in my view, short on consumer relativity. Human Resources. Leadership.

Brand 196

Brand CEO Marketing Proposal 196

In the CEO Afterlife

FEBRUARY 26, 2012

You be obsessed with innovation. They leverage their financial resources. Achieving the right culture is possible, but it seldom happens unless the organization is blessed with a strong and tenacious CEO who passionately practices the tenets of entrepreneurial leadership. You grow by doing less, better.

Creativity 240

Creativity Brand Management Marketing Brand 240

In the CEO Afterlife

JULY 2, 2012

But they cannot be permitted to lead; make them play catch-up by continuing to strategically innovate. But in my final years as CEO of a growing, profitable consumer packaged goods enterprise, it was senseless to engage in bitter wars that challenged margins. A competitor doesn’t have to fail; they too, can make a profit.

Sports 228

Sports Tactics Competitive Advantage Short-term 228

In the CEO Afterlife

APRIL 5, 2016

Companies say they want to be customer-centric, to be innovative, to produce outstanding products and services, to be environmentally responsible, to be socially responsible, and so on. We read about these factors in the quintessential mission statements that occupy real estate in annual reports and gather dust in reception lobbies.

Teamwork 100

Teamwork Real Estate Mission Statement Merchandising 100

In the CEO Afterlife

MARCH 28, 2012

Imagine Apple without innovators or Zappos neglecting service or Whole Foods selling a slew of processed foods loaded with saturated fat. Other than ensuring an ethical environment in the organizations they govern, I suspect today’s Boards still don’t give culture the attention it deserves. Generally, founders instill the culture.

Competitive Advantage 131

Competitive Advantage Long-term CEO Ethics 131

In the CEO Afterlife

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

Envision Google without innovators, or Zappos cutting corners on customer service. And even though culture is a vital determinant of business performance, today’s Boards fail to give it the attention it deserves. That is not the case at Google, Zappos, Whole Foods, and several other new age companies.

Long-term 100

Long-term Download CEO Objective 100

In the CEO Afterlife

AUGUST 6, 2013

Wouldn’t you expect more innovation? Trouble often starts with the brand management itself – the loss of direction, the inability to inject innovation, the failure to recognize customer evolution, the lack of understanding of what the brand is and what it is not. Some companies brand exceedingly well. That’s an understatement.

Brand 260

Brand P&L Human Resources Brand Management 260

In the CEO Afterlife

APRIL 13, 2015

When leadership foresight is compelling, inclusive, and easily definable, people want to be a part of it; they want to follow their leader to that place. Leadership is the conduit. One thing is for sure; you won’t get to a better future without foresight. Nodding to the premise is easy. World-Changing Foresight.

Sports 100

Sports Ethics Travel Follow-up 100

In the CEO Afterlife

DECEMBER 29, 2013

For the sake of brevity, I’ll list just five similarities between HR and brand marketing. HR’s product is the corporation’s human resource , the people required to build the product, produce it, sell it, ship it, invoice it and service it. Marketers determine how to bring the brand promise to life. Everything.

Marketing 173

Marketing Human Capital Human Resources Brand 173

In the CEO Afterlife

MARCH 19, 2012

Winners prioritize and exercise the principles of great leadership according to the unique needs and the conditions of the enterprise they lead. CEOs who constantly whine about the new world are destined for failure. Others who are upbeat and keen to influence the future are the winners.

CEO 204

CEO Competitive Advantage Teamwork Marketing 204

In the CEO Afterlife

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

Moving on your instincts is not seat-of-the-pants leadership. Less is better, strategically and managerially. Too much information ruins instincts. It is experience that improves a person’s ability to take action. Rather, it is using judgment at the right time and in the right place to seize the competitive edge.

Power 100

Power Competitive Advantage Airlines Information 100

Harvard Business Review

JULY 10, 2012

Two decades ago, organizations were designed around stand-alone business units, so all managers had to understand finance, technology, manufacturing, sales, marketing, strategy, human resources, and more. If successful, they then were given responsibility for increasingly larger businesses.

Management 14

Management P&L Incubator Finance 14

In the CEO Afterlife

OCTOBER 17, 2011

Leadership. by John • October 17, 2011 • Branding , Human Resources , Leadership , Marketing , Strategy • 3 Comments. Never in the history of marketing has there been so much talk about branding. Wouldn’t you expect more innovation? Human Resources. Leadership.

Brand 168

Brand CEO Stage-Gate SWOT 168

In the CEO Afterlife

APRIL 22, 2015

I consider Google a tier-one innovator. You “fix brands before they break” with innovations that add value and fortify the bran d’ s raison d’être. Twenty years ago, Nestlé could see that the instant coffee market was broken. Nestlé turned to product innovation to fulfill the convenience needs of coffee lovers.

Brand 100

Brand Core Competence Retail Advertising 100

In the CEO Afterlife

MARCH 18, 2015

The outcome of ‘doing less better’ in market scope has been stellar; past five years sales have doubled and earnings have tripled. With 60% of annual sales coming from innovative new products, it is clear that LEGO has not been idle. Doing less better’ doesn’t mean doing less work. In-N-Out Burger.

Apparel 100

Apparel Brand Franchising Competitive Advantage 100

In the CEO Afterlife

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

But even artists have to eat, and the fuel of commerce and industry is innovation and novelty. This hybridization of the arts and business is nothing new of course – it’s been going on for centuries – but they have always been uncomfortable bed-fellows. Let’s trade. Will work for food!” as the street-beggars sign says.

Advertising 265

Advertising Creativity Industry Bottom-up 265

In the CEO Afterlife

MARCH 3, 2014

Let me give you an example of this in business leadership. Bold Innovation. The bolder you are in the search for innovation, the more likely you are to unearth the big idea. I’ll compare this to the “fire, ready, aim” approach of innovation. Bold and Virtuous Leadership. Caution is the operative word. Bold Visions.

Human Resources 214

Human Resources Airlines Marketing Strategy Discount 214

In the CEO Afterlife

APRIL 10, 2011

Leadership. by John • April 11, 2011 • Human Resources , Strategy • 0 Comments. Sixty-five innovative operations - four in the state of California alone. EA says that would stifle innovation. Check their market cap and reputation for innovation. Human Resources.

CEO 170

CEO Advice Company Competitive Advantage 170

In the CEO Afterlife

JUNE 10, 2015

For example, we know that a great strategy without great execution isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Culture, strategy, leadership, branding, innovation, customer orientation and employee centricity must co-exist. So why then, has strategy been singled out as the whipping boy?

Strategy 100

Strategy Critical Success Factor McKinsey Retail 100